


Hyperphysical

by AnotherShotofBourbon



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, a ghost and spirits AU, think of it like a hellboy style thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 04:04:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5952963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherShotofBourbon/pseuds/AnotherShotofBourbon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hyperphysical (adj): 1.) being above or beyond the physical; 2.) supernatural<br/>Avatar (noun): 1.) a person who is both physical and spiritual; 2.) a person who can interact with the spirits in a physical manner</p><p>Something strange is happening at the Sato Mansion during Asami's world famous Southern Glacier Spirit Festival Party. People she doesn't know are there, strange spirits are rampaging around, there are strange cultists. Something strange indeed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hyperphysical

# 

“Are the summoning preparations complete?”

“They will be shortly.”

“Make sure they are done. We cannot afford another failure. You can’t afford another failure.” The threat was obvious, even in the source of the voice wasn’t.

“It will be done. I promise.”

“Good. The festival begins in an hour. The moon rises in two. Make sure you are seen. Your cover is still necessary. Don’t you dare compromise it.”

“Of course I won’t.”

“Then make sure this summoning goes off without a hitch. When you succeed, make sure you bind it to Shou.”

“As you say. It’ll be done.”

“It had better. Remember the price for your failure,” the voice was laced with venom.

He remembered all too well. “The Red Lotus will succeed.”

“For your sake. It had better.”

* * *

 

“I can’t believe you’re making me go to this stupid party.”

“You know how important this festival is to the Spirit World. We need you there to make sure no one tries to pervert it for devious ends.”

“Can’t the Red Lotus ever just enjoy a holiday?”

“You’re the only one who can do this. We need you there.”

“I know. I know. Responsibilities blah blah blah. But do I have to actually attend this stupid party? Can’t I just wait in the van?”

“There have been spirit attacks during each one of the Sato parties, as each one falls on a major spiritual holiday. We need you to be at the Glacier Festival, you need to be inside. Just in case. And security has more than doubled since the attack on Asami Sato, so you can’t sneak it. You have to go in through the front door. You’re the only one that can stop it.”

“Yeah… I know. I just… wish that I wasn’t the only one.”

“Would it help to know that Bolin is going with you as your plus one?”

“A little bit yeah.”

“Good luck out there tonight Korra.”

“Thanks. Wait. Is this a formal event? Black tie and all that?”

“Yes it is.”

“Damn it Tenzin! You know how I-”

“Yes, yes, well good luck!”

* * *

 

Every year Asami Sato, heiress, engineer, most eligible bachelorette in Republic City throws the single greatest party of the year (although her real competition for best party of the year were her other parties on New Year’s ad the infamous 7 Day Sato Summer Bash and when Varrick throws his birthday party every year) on the Southern Water Tribe’s Glacier Spirits Festival.

It was the party to be at.

Everyone that was anyone of any note was at the Sato Mansion that night.

The party was catered by the single most exclusive and expensive restaurant in the city.

The east wing ballroom, the front courtyard, and the backyard all had a different band playing music throughout the night. There was a fully functioning hedge maze in the backyard grown especially for the night’s festivities. Asami had spent a small fortune and several weeks making fireworks by hand and working on the timing of what should be a fantastic show.

It was going to be the party of the century.

And sure Asami was excited. She did like society parties, and she was the best at society parties. Mostly she was just excited for the dancing, the good food, the music, and the unnecessary fiery explosions that she had designed herself.

But it would be better if she had someone to share it with. Not some arm’s length friends and upper class twits that seemed to surround her.

At least that one person she specifically invited should be there.

And she was so looking forward to seeing them again. Especially since they’ve returned every single gift she sent.

“Ma’am?” bowed the butler respectfully. “Your guests have started to arrive. Your father is greeting them on the front lawn.”

“Thank you Alfonse. I’ll be down shortly,” Asami said as she checked her make up in the mirror. She still had to do her cheeks and eyes. Something to bring out her green eyes and compliment her stunning and sleek red dress picked out especially for the occasion.

Asami took her time, for it didn’t become a socialite to be on time, or god forbid, early to her own party.

So when an hour had passed and she was absolutely sure she was looking flawless, Asami left her room in the closed off west wing of the mansion and descended the stairs to make her grand entrance into the front room to greet her adoring fans.

Sure enough the who’s who of Republic CIty all stopped what they were doing to turn and look at the heir apparent of Future Industries.

She looked radiant and beautiful and much older than the nineteen she was supposed to be.

For a little while Asami made her polite hello’s, mostly to her father’s business partners, strange foreign business people who always gave her shivers at the base of her spine, and various politicians. Thankfully she was spared further dull talk with her father and his many associates by one of her servants.

“Miss Sato, there’s a detective here to see you.”

“Oh thank you,” Asami smiled and ran off to see the one person she’d personally invited to her party: the police officer she owed so much.

She approached the impressive figure standing out towards the back of the dance floor in the grand ballroom in the east wing. He was watching the dancers twirl and laugh to the music and stole a couple glances at the massive, impressive chandelier that hung above the party.

“Detective Mako,” Asami smiled. “I wasn’t sure you’d come.”

The handsome young officer turned to look at her. An awkward, but genuine, smile at his lips. “I actually requested the night off, and luckily the chief accepted. She usually doesn’t give much time off.”

“So if this is your day off, how come you came in your uniform?” Asami asked.

“Um… this is the only suit that I own,” Mako responded awkwardly.

“You could have said something. I have a live-in tailor. I could get you a new suit right now,” Asami responded.

“No, I couldn’t ask you for that.”

“It would be nothing. I promise. Besides, it’s the least I could do for the man that save my life,” Asami told him.

Mako rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “Really, Miss Sato, it was nothing. I was just doing my job.”

“It’s Asami. And you were doing it exceptionally.”

Three months ago, Asami was leaving her office. Late as usual. It was almost four in the morning. Sure, everyone told her not to work that late, or at least have someone escort her out of the building, but her head was still stuck on that damn engine. It should be putting out at least another twenty horsepower but it was losing efficiency somewhere. Despite taking the damn thing apart three times that night she couldn’t find the problem.

Maybe sleep would help.

She didn’t notice that the parking garage wasn’t empty until she almost ran into the knife wielding madman.

And he had to be mad. There was some crazy, dark shadow in his eyes, and some kind of ridiculously stupid hood on.

The man advanced on her with a twisted, much too wide smile.

Adrenaline has a way of clearing the mind, and suddenly Asami was able to focus.

There wasn’t just one man, or two, or six. Asami was confident on being able to fight off up to six attackers. Seven maybe. Eight in a pinch. But there were seventeen people. All of them with the same mad grin, crazy hooded eyes, and various weapons.

Asami lashed out with a fist at the nearest attacker, but she must have been more tired than she thought because she must have missed. Either that or her fist went straight through the man’s head.

But when the man slashed out at her with his knife, the blade cut through her jacket, through her skin. It drew blood.

Now Asami was panicking. True, bone deep, panic.

She tried to lash out again, but once more hit nothing.

Asami turned and tried to flee, but something stopped her.

There was someone behind her. A man she’d never seen before. He was tall, amber eyes.

In a panic she turned away from his and started running, but something grabbed her and she fell.

Sounds of vicious fighting, fists and weapons and other things connecting with flesh and whatever the hell that guy was.

Asami turned over as fast as she could, so that she could see, she fear all of this was happening to her.

What she saw appeared to be an angry, glowing, someone beating the ever living crap out of all sixteen attackers. And the boy she saw before standing over her.

“Everything’s gonna be-” he said, but she didn’t hear the rest of it as she promptly passed out.

“I just wanted to thank the police officer that saved my life. And for all the work you do,” Asami told Mako.

“But I can’t accept things like that. It would suggest… favoritism and I’m a police officer…” Mako continued.

She slapped her forehead. “Oh of course! I’m so sorry for even trying! I’m so thick! I’m sorry!”

Mako smiled. It was a kind smile, a bit worn on the edges, like it had been through hard times and forced more than a few times, but it still felt genuine and warm. “Miss Sato, if I thought you meant any… ill intentions with your… numerous gifts… I would have said something besides simply returning them.”

Asami flashed him a quick smile as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s fine. It’s all my fault anyways. I’m sorry I was so pushy with my thank you gifts. And I promise I’ll stop. But… how about a thank you dance instead?”

“I think I can have just one dance.”

As if on cue, the band transitioned into a slow dance song.

Asami grabbed Mako’s hand, and led him to the dance floor.

With his strong, not entirely confident hands on her waist, and Asami’s arms around his neck, the couple danced slowly to the song.

“Still,” Asami whispered, they were close enough for her to not have to speak above a whisper, “I feel like I didn’t properly thank you for saving my life.”

“Please, Miss Sato-”

“For the love of god, please call me Asami.”

“Asami. I was just doing… my job. What any other Republic City Officer would have done.”

She smiled, laughing at his unintentional joke. “I don’t think they would have. I think you’re one of a kind Mako.”

“No, I’m not. I’m… pretty ordinary. Plenty of cops would have done what I did,” he responded.

But Asami had stopped paying attention. She’d caught a glimpse of someone out of the corner of her eye. Someone familiar, yet vaguely threatening, this woman was standing like she wanted to fight someone. When Mako spun her around once more, she turned to see the woman absolutely glaring at her. It looked like she wanted to fight Asami.

This woman, girl really, was short, with two long plaits of brown hair framing her face with an impressive ponytail at the back. Her blue eyes burned a hole through Asami. She swore she saw her somewhere before.

“Who is that?” Asami asked somewhat rhetorically.

But Mako turned to look anyways. “God. That’s… that’s Korra.”

“I make it a point to know everyone that comes to my parties. Or at least know of them. And I don’t know her.”

Before Mako could even make an attempt to explain it, Asami had effortlessly detached herself from the striking detective and marched over to the girl giving her the death glare.

When she got close to this Korra girl, Asami grabbed her by the elbow and directed her into side hallway. A side hallway Asami stashed a couple of self defense weapons, just in case.

“Who are you? What are you doing here? How did you get in?”

“Whoa! Calm down princess,” the tanned woman said like being a princess was something to be offended by. “I’m a close friend of Tenzin’s. You invited him right? He sent me in his stead. Korra. Southern Water Tribe. He couldn’t make it, and I guess he figured I would like a little taste of home. And quite honestly I wasn’t staring at you, I was staring at  _ him. _ ”

“Him? Him who?” Asami demanded.

“Me,” Mako said as he came up from behind. “Asami Sato, meet Korra, my ex-girlfriend.”

“Yeah. He left me pretty hard two months ago,” Korra explained as she crossed her arms, wrinkling her somewhat worn suit. “But it’s nice to see he moved up so damn quickly.”

Mako rubbed his eyes with one hand, inadvertently making his already sharp eyebrows sharper. “Korra. It’s not- we’re over. What are you even doing here?”

“The hell do you think I’m doing here?” Korra bit back.

“Whoa hold on,” Asami said. “You,” she said as she grabbed Korra by the hand and led her away from Mako, “come here. I think we need to have a discussion.”

“What are we talking about and why are we talking about it?” the girl moaned as she took her deep blue eyes off Asami.

On reflex, Asami threw her hands around this Korra person’s neck, and started dancing to the slow song that the band started playing when they saw their boss dragging someone to the dance floor.

“Oh sorry. I didn’t realize I was taking you… here,” Asami apologized. “I wasn’t thinking. I just felt like there was some stuff we needed to discuss without Mako.”

“Like what? I barely know you.”

“Exactly. I’m sorry. I didn’t know that Mako was… involved with someone.”

“Involved. That’s one way to put it.”

“I swear I didn’t know. I know started sending him all that stuff three months ago when he saved my life.”

“Is that what he said?”

“I mean that was what happened.”

“So you’re  _ her _ .”

“Yeah, I guess I am,” Asami winced. “I’m sorry. If I had known he was dating someone I would have never.”

“Oh no, it’s fine. We were broken up for a while.”

“But you said-”

“It was complicated,” Korra interrupted. “It was this whole working together thing.”

“Oh, you’re a police officer too?”

“Uh… not so much.”

“So you’re not a police officer?”

Korra’s face contorted as she tried to think a way out of this. “No?”

“Is that a question?”

“No?” Korra shrugged. “Look it’s not something I can really ta-”

And at that instant the ground shook, the entire mansion shook, almost knocking both girls to their feet. Almost everyone else on the dance floor was knocked flat on their backs.

“An earthquake?” Asami asked keeping an eye on the awkwardly shaking chandelier.

“Hardly,” Korra muttered. “I mean. Yeah, probably. You should probably take your guests and get out of here, get to a clearing or something, away from the house Should it collapse. You know, because of the earthquakes.”

Another rumble shook the earth and people started to scream.

“Mako!” Korra shouted. “You want to be a police officer! Now’s your chance! Get these people out of here.”

“But-” he tried to argue.

Korra looked at him, and there was something in her eyes, a certain spark or glow, that Asami just barely caught, that made him reluctantly nod his head.

“Ok ladies and gentlemen! I’m with the Republic City Police Department! I need you all to leave the premises in a calm and orderly fashion! Please! As quickly and calmly as you can!” Mako yelled. Then he turned to Asami. “You too Miss Sato.”

“Bolin!” Korra shouted. “Bolin! Where are you?”

“What the hell is happening to my house?” Asami asked.

“Earthquakes. Come on we need to get you out of here,” Mako said with a commanding tone that left no room for questions, even though Asami had plenty of them.

Just as Mako was starting to usher out all of the patrons, another man ran up who looked similar to Mako, but broader and without the severity.

“Bolin!” shouted Korra. “Where were you!”

“Scouting!” the boy Asami assumed must be related to Mako somehow.

“Sure the buffet table!” Korra snapped.

“Yeah! But the point is I found it! That’s the important bit,” the boy responded.

“Where?”

Asami shouted, “What’s going on!”

“We’re going to make sure everyone gets out,” Korra said hurriedly as she pulled off her black tie. “You go with Mako, and we’ll be right behind you. Promise.”

Asami didn’t really have a choice. Asami was ushered off the grounds with the rest of her guests just after she heard the phrase “the west wing” from Korra’s friend Bolin.

She tried to watch where they were going, but there were just too many people.

About three hundred yards away from her mansion Asami finally stopped. Everyone stopped.

Mako was handling the crowd and trying to keep everyone calm and away from the house.

The ground had stopped shaking, so people were wondering what the big deal was.

Suddenly a large crash erupted across the distance, as part of the west wing of the house collapsed. That section of the mansion was just bedrooms mostly. Large, lavish bedrooms, sure. But there was nothing really there.

That was when Asami realized realized that she hadn’t seen her father since she was forced to evacuate. He was definitely at the party, she’d seen him.

In two swift movements, Asami was out of her high heels and sprinting back to her house. She wasn’t about to leave her father behind.

When she got to the grounds, what she saw wasn’t what she expected. She expected some minor devastation from the earthquakes (even though some small, distant, rational part of her mind told her there were no fault lines in area). Instead she saw things utterly, literally torn apart.

Parts of her mansion looked like things were ripped off it by a giant.

There were noises and crashes from behind the mansion, near the hedge maze.

So Asami quickly ran there, desperately searching for her father.

What she saw instead stopped her dead in her tracks.

First of all was the boy, Bolin, the one that looked like Mako’s brother, fighting off a strange group of red robed people. But he wasn’t just using his hands and feet. He was making strange gestures at them, and after the weird movement a rock would get thrown at them or a plant would rise up out of the ground or one of the animal hedges would come to life and start attacking.

Then, as if she couldn’t believe that she’d missed it, her attention was totally diverted to a giant… thing.

It had to be at least twenty five feet tall. It looked like a giant, squat human body, that just so happened to have an octopus for a head. But the entire thing was a deep, dark purple, like the sky in the exact moment before the sun truly set. The being was massive and terrifying and looked like it wasn’t entirely there, like an image projected on a window, she could see it and see through it.

What the hell?

It was a spirit. A real, true to life, spirit.

And it was destroying her house.

One of those red robed.. cultists?... was right near her, so without really thinking, Asami smashed him in the head.

The octopus head thing turned its attention to Asami and roared with a voice that was utterly inhuman.

“I’m not done with you yet!” yelled a voice that could only have been Korra. And a figure was propelled high up into the air by what looked like a pillar of raw earth.

The tanned woman flew up to the strange beast and sucker punched it right in the face, knocking it over.

The octopus roared and flailed its tentacles at Korra, one of them hitting her right in the chest, sending her back into the hedge maze.

“Gah!” Korra yelled. “Bolin! Cover!”

“I’m trying!” he yelled as he kept attacking the cultists with all the plants and topiary he could.

The giant octopus thing stood up as Korra yelled, “I’m not done with you!”

A giant slab stone flew out of where Korra was thrown and smacked the spirit right in the face.

Korra flew, actually flew, to the spirit and landed on it.

Asami was totally stunned by what she saw. Korra’s eyes were glowing. Her suit jacket had been torn to shreds showing off impressive arm muscles and a series of glowing tattoos, or were those scars, up and down her arms as well as some kind of utterly blinding light blazing through the remains of her shirt.

Korra landed on the spirit and started doing… something.

The spirit screamed but seemed helpless to Korra’s assault even though the assault looked like some kind of strange dance.

One of the crazy red robed cultists charged at Korra while Bolin was distracted.

It was enough to snap Asami out of her shock. She was close to the cultist so she sprinted over and scissor kicked him to the ground.

Ever since her attack she’d upped her self defense practice to five times a week instead of three.

Just as she managed to force the last of the cultists to the ground there was a wave of silence that burst out from where Korra stood behind her.

Asami turned around and saw the giant spirit was gone.

“Oh good,” she said.

But the next thing she knew she was tackled by a giant platypus bear shaped shrub.

“Damn it Bolin,” she heard Korra say somewhere off in the distance.

“Sorry! I told it to attack the guys in red, she’s in a red dress,” a dim voice said.

“I thought you were supposed to be a talented druid.”

“What? Shrubs aren’t that smart!”

“What are we gonna do with her. She saw everything.”

“It’s ok,” Asami said weakly. She’d hit her head on the ground, and the adrenaline was rapidly leaving her system and she woke up in a bed, in a room she didn’t recognize.

“Good, you’re up,” said a voice that when Asami sat up, saw belonged to Korra. She’d changed, put on a long sleeved shirt and jeans.

“What the hell happened?” Asami asked. “Where am I?”

“Well… that’s an interesting question,” Korra said.

“You punched a giant spirit.”

“Uh… yes I did.”

“What happened?”

“Well some members of what we think were the Red Lotus used your party to start a ritual to bring a spirit through the barrier to our world. Fortunately I was there to… interfere.”

Asami looked over Korra, who was no longer glowing like she was before. “How did you do that?”

Korra sighed. “Well if you ask Tenzin he’ll tell you that I’m a person that exists as both a purely physical and antiphysical, or to put it in layman's terms, spiritual being that all at once straddles both the world we exist in, aka the physical world, and the realm of spirits, ghosts, gods, magic, et cetera, aka the spiritual world, and can interact with both at the same time while being possessed of great martial, magical, and spiritual powers because of this duality of nature.”

“What.”

“Long story short, I can punch spirits because of what I am. Most people just call me the Avatar. And this… this is the White Lotus headquarters.”

“The what now?”

“My job is to stop people, like the people you saw tonight, from doing things like what they did tonight, summoning spirits, demons, using magic to terrorize people, that kind of stuff. I’m basically the only one who can do it, because I’m the only one who can punch spirits. Because-”

“You’re… the Avatar.”

“That about sums it up.”

“Right,” Asami said. “I think I have a concussion.”

“You’ll get around to accepting it,” Korra said. “It’ll just take some time. I’ll let you sleep.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not gonna lie. I have zero plans for this. I don't know where this is going, if it is even going anywhere at all.  
> Also I blame Garth Nix for all of this. It's all his fault and the fact that To Hold the Bridge makes me want to write things.  
> Also also this was originally up on my [patreon](https://www.patreon.com/posts/hyperphysical-4366282)


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